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Soccer Picks

World Cup Russia 2018 – Spain National Soccer Team

La Furia Roja are one of the 8 national soccer teams to have been crowned World Cup champions. They are the 1st team to win the World Cup trophy outside Europe after beating the Netherlands 1-0 in South Africa in 2010.

Spain are the inventors of the tiki-taka style of play, a system based on short passing-style without long balls in which players are given the chance to create spaces, dominate the possession and control the tempo. Barcelona are using this style for a long time with huge success and now Pep Guardiola has implemented tiki-taka in the Premier League at Manchester City. After a disastrous Euro 2016 campaign when they lost 0-2 against Italy in the 1st knock-out round, Vicente del Bosque resigned following 8 years in charge of the national squad being replaced with former FC Porto coach Julen Lopetegui.

After a superb qualifying campaign in which Spain topped their group without losing a match and conceding just 3 goals in 10 games, they are now 4th favorites to win the World Cup being priced at +700 with WilliamHill. Spain are going through a generation change trying to make a smooth transition after some of their most important player like Xavi, Puyol, Casillas or Xabi Alonso have retired from the national team. They are trying to combine the experience (Iniesta, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique) with young talents (Nacho, Isco, Marco Asensio, Alvaro Morata) and they might need more time till they will win their next big trophy.

Key Players:

The 23 players list is not ready yet and coach Lopetegui hopes that no injuries or other issues occur, and all his players will be 100% fit for the big event. There are some key players who have often been called up and they will surely make the cut if nothing happens in the next period.

- Goalkeeper – Manchester United’s David De Gea and Spain No. 1 goalkeeper is enjoying a good season in Premier League having great numbers, impressive form, helping his side to have the best defensive record so far this season with just 19 goals conceded in 27 rounds.

- Defender – Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos is Spain’s captain and the player with the biggest influence on the pitch. He is a born leader with incredible achievements, a player who’s not willing to accept defeat, ready to fight till the last minute of the game.

- Midfielder – Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets is the brain from the midfield also for his club but also for his national team. He is an intelligent player with amazing skills and most important with the ability to connect the defense with the attack by delivering great passes.

- Striker – If we were talking 1 year ago, Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata was our 1st choice but right now, thinking about his poor EPL season and about his back injury which made him miss almost 1 month, it will be very tough for him to travel in Russia as Spain’s 1st striker. There is a long way till the end of the season and he might overcome all the problems and perform at his highest level.

Spain are playing their opening match against Euro 2016 winners Portugal and they will definitely try to win the 3 points because group B is a tricky group with Iran and Marocco and it will be important for them to start the tournament with a positive result.